Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC)

Supported by

RBC Foundation

Presenting Sponsor of the Alumni Gala Concert

Kun

Lecture Series Supported by

B&E Electronics

Official Calgary Airport Shuttle Service

Banff Airporter

Media Sponsors

CBC Calgary Herald
Required*
  • (Bi-weekly emails for upcoming events)
  • (emails on exhibits and public events)
  • (Festival Updates)

 


Personal information on this form will be used for the purposes of providing you information regarding events and event-related items. This information is collected under the authority of the Post-Secondary Learning Act that mandates the programs and services offered by The Banff Centre and will be protected by the provisions of the Alberta Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP).

Amaryllis Quartet

Germany/Switzerland

Amaryllis Quartet

Gustav Frielinghaus, violin
Lena Wirth, violin
Lena Eckels, viola
Yves Sandoz, cello

The German/Swiss Amaryllis Quartet was trained in Basel by Walter Levin (first violinist of the LaSalle Quartet) and has been receiving coaching by the Alban Berg Quartet in Cologne since 2007.

The Amaryllis Quartet is a regular participant in concert series and festivals in Germany, Switzerland,, and other countries in Europe, including appearances in the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Lucerne Festival, Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Società del Quartetto di Milano, Barcelona’s Schubertiade, Biennale Bern, the KulturGut Holzhausen, and the International Beethoven Festival in Bonn. At the latter, they opened an exhibition of Schoenberg’s paintings with the composer’s daughter Nuria Schoenberg-Nono in attendance. Furthermore, the quartet founded its own concert series at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and the Konzertsaal Solothurn. They have been regularly invited by ProQuartet (Paris) to give concerts in France and together with ACCR, a one-month residency for the quartet in Provence was possible in 2007.

The rediscovery of forgotten masterworks is a priority for the members of the young quartet, with a special interest in Hungarian composer Géza Frid, a student of Bartók, and made the world-premiere recording of his string quartets, released in 2008 by Coviello Classics. A recording for cpo of eight of the sixteen string quartets by the violin virtuoso and Schubert contemporary Friedrich Ernst Fesca is in preparation.

The quartet is also committed to the performance of contemporary music and has given world premieres of works by the Berlin jazz cellist and composer Mathis Brun and the Estonian composer Eino Tamberg. On this year’s agenda are premieres of string quartets by the Swiss composer Heidi Baader–Nobs (Basel) and the German composer Wolfgang Andreas Schultz (Hamburg).

Together with Walter Levin, they performed for Southwest German Radio’s (SWR) 50 Masterworks series. As well, the Quartet performed for Radio Berlin Brandenburg, and at the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin they again joined forces with Walter Levin.

In April 2005 the Amaryllis quartet won first prize at the international Charles Hennen Concours in the Netherlands. Last year the quartet won the Irene Steels Wilsing Prize at the Premio Borciani in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and two prizes at the international string quartet competition TROMP in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The Eindhoven jury awarded the Press Prize to the quartet with the comment, “Judging by their cultivated sound and their deep understanding of what it means to be a quartet, they are now ready for a career.” This year the quartet also was awarded a grant from the Deutschen Musikrat competition.

  Visit their website

2010 BISQC Quartets